David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is always a pleasure to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, former Speaker of this House and a constituent of mine. Welcome.

---Applause

I will read the rest of Mr. Pokiak’s statement.

Considered lost is Mr. Frank Steen and his son Paul, and Ronald Rufus and his son Kyle. They are considered experienced hunters. Members of the 14th Assembly may remember Paul Steen. He served as a Page and his dream was to become an MLA for the Nunakput riding.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Premier Joe Handley; Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew, MP, Western Arctic; Mayor Jackie Jacobson and council; the RCMP; the Canadian Rangers; the local individuals of Tuktoyaktuk; the Canadian Coast Guard; U.S. Search and Rescue; and the air charter...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate the time constraints that the Minister and Cabinet might find themselves up against, but what I find hard to believe is they can make decisions like that without any input from a Regular Member or from the public, for that matter. There has been no public disclosure on what is happening out there. Unless you really work at the airport and see what is going on out there, the general public has no idea what amount of money is being spent out at the Yellowknife Airport, what the long-term plan is, or anything to that effect. I think that should not be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Michael McLeod. We talk of an open, honest and transparent government. Time and time again, Cabinet makes multi-million dollar decisions. I can’t be specific today, but the question I have is when will the public know what is happening in terms of improvement at the Yellowknife Airport? When will we have a chance to publicly debate those improvements and what is happening out there? This gets back to my question about the access road and future airport expansion, perhaps, out to that area...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to use my Member’s statement today to discuss an issue that I spoke about during the March session. That issue is the construction of an access road from Highway No. 3 to the Kam Lake Industrial Park in the city of Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, there were two incidents this past summer where, in the first, a live missile fell off a CF-18 fighter jet onto the Yellowknife golf course and fortunately nobody was killed or injured in that incident. The very next day a CF-18 fighter pilot was forced to eject after his jet skidded off the end of the runway. Both of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, October 15, 2004, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Deborah McLeod be appointed as deputy director of human rights for the Northwest Territories by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, as recommended by the Legislative Assembly;

And further, that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of appointment to the Commissioner.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just wondering, through you to the Minister, when was the decision made by Cabinet to go ahead with the improvements at the Yellowknife Airport. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, Mr. Speaker, to go out to the airport and see that money is being spent on such things as apron improvements and parking lot improvements. This costs money. When was that decision made, and when were Regular Members allowed to debate what is happening at the Yellowknife Airport in terms of capital expenditures? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel, and I have mentioned this before in the House, that I believe it’s only a matter of time before a serious incident takes place at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre. Does the Minister know that due to a lack of staff at the facility, they are currently paying out exorbitant amounts of overtime? Some employees are even working double and triple shifts. This practice certainly has to compromise the safety of the building, the staff and the inmates who are currently there, and I am wondering what the Minister will do to address this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I see it, there will still be departments off doing their own thing, unbeknownst to the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office. How is this coordination? Why can’t someone take charge of this vitally important initiative and direct PYs and resources to it in no uncertain terms? Why isn’t this happening and why can’t it happen this way as opposed to coming back to this House looking for $850,000? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will go back to my statement that I made earlier with regard to the setup of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office. I am just wondering when can we, as regular Members, get a real firm grip on our full staff complement, government-wide, that deals with pipeline readiness issues on a day-to-day basis in this government? When can we get that type of information? The calculations that I have made is it’s over 20 PYs government-wide. So I am asking the Minister when he might be able to make that information available to us. Thank you.